


colour wheel

by ninespercentage (nicrt)



Series: picspams [3]
Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Druids, Elemental Magic, Multi, Warlocks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-05-04 18:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14598846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicrt/pseuds/ninespercentage
Summary: A cool and cruel world.If you were born with this talent, you're a natural.If you were gifted with this power, you're a monster.Who are you?





	1. earth

****

**earth. xukun. druid.**

Xukun knew loneliness.

Remembered it vividly, like an old friend. The loss of warmth and familiarity. An aching need for comfort and love. The repeated times the world seemed hellbent on making him suffer. The sudden switch from hello to goodbyes

He remembered them well. Those moments. When men with strange markings ripped him away from his mother and father. When they put him behind metal doors and windowless walls. When they chased him down for breaking them down to taste fresh air again. When they hunted him and his friends until he was the only one left.

Loneliness was bitter, sad and unkind.

Xukun knew it too well.

So he stepped forward first; reaching, hand out, palm up. To the other boy wrapped in leaves, flowers and thorns.

And he said, smiling. “We won’t be alone anymore.”

 


	2. wood

****

**wood. linong. druid.**

the city was overwhelmingly different.

linong was used to dirt and fresh air, not dust and smog. to animals waking from deep slumber to forage and hunt. not to humans beings bustling as a mob, moving through the motions of life, trying to get ahead of time itself.

cold weather felt differently through wool and cotton, than it does through bark and wood. it bit harder at his skin and he still shivered beneath all the layers he’d been given. his nose burned when the wind blew, and his toes and fingers were numb more than half the time.

life beyond the forest was faster, harsher, scarier.

it meant hiding in dark alleys and empty houses. sleeping when the afternoon sun was up, waking when the moon was high. moving under the cover of city lights that replaced the stars

linong felt his hand being squeezed; glanced at xukun who smiled at him; comforting him.

well. he smiled back. it’s better than being cut down to the roots by his hunters at least.


	3. void

**void. chengcheng. warlock.**

One would have thought being brought back to life meant being able to feel warm again. Nah. That wasn’t how life and death worked in the first place. If you’re dead; you stay six feet under. Or had your ashes in a jar.

Chengcheng wasn’t the one who had died. But he knew how it felt like. Quite intimately, in fact. It didn’t matter how. The after effects were more important.

The ritual left him cold. The kind he can describe as his heart freezing over. It left him empty. Turned him into a shell of the boy he once was; a living corpse. He exaggerated. But for just that one minute being dead, all Chengcheng knew was the void; like space.

And with that void, came something dark.

A stranger. An intruder. A conqueror.

A demon.

Chengcheng felt this chill in the very depths of his soul. Even now, as he watched Zhengting fleet about, checking if the others were comfortably asleep.

Even now, while he was happy with his new family. He was still very much cold.


	4. lightning

**lightning. justin. druid.**

if zhengting were here, he'd start nagging at justin for being reckless. again.  
  
but what was he supposed to do? leave the other boy to die at the hands of a couple of hunters? well, he's proud of his decision to save a fellow druid at least.  
  
also: being reckless, doesn't mean he's not being smart.  
  
the sparks in his hands, electricity glowing blue and green, were his first signal. the other druid saw this and realisation flooded across his face. the next one, was his quiet tapping with his foot on the metal floors. and then, the other druid smirked.  
  
as soon as justin slammed his palms onto the grates, he jumped - well. more like he propelled himself upwards with a fiery explosion of fire. he got high enough that it took him some time to drop back down onto the ground. long enough, that by the time justin removed his hands from the floor, the hunters were still twitching from the electric current that had ran through their bodies.  
  
of course, the aftermath meant they had to escape before another group found them. but for what it's worth, justin thought as he fist-bumped with the fire druid, he's glad he did right by someone.


	5. water

****

**water. yanjun. druid.**

" _Please! No!_ "

Those were the usual last words Yanjun heard before a hunter was encapsulated in a block of thick ice. He never drowned them. No matter how much he hated them, he wasn't cruel enough to watch them suffer from asphyxiation underwater.

But he did hate them enough to kill them.

The air around him was freezing cold, a side effect of him using his powers. Yanjun walked away from the monuments of ice he had made; each one with a dying hunter inside. Sometimes they live if another group came by quick enough to save them. Most of the time they don't. He didn't stick around long enough to find out.

The pendant felt heavy on his chest, the chain like a noose around his neck. He brought the small burden up to his lips, gently kissing the fake metal. Wishing and praying and mourning.

" _Please...no..._ "

Those had been her last words too. Before he stabbed her through the heart with a sharp rod of ice.


	6. aether & light

he dreams of when he was fourteen. lost in the city, bag on his back heavy. the streetlights cast ominous shadows in the darkness of the night. the air breathed summer's heat and he had hated it so much.  
  
he dreams of the sudden flash of something bright. there, at the corner, in the alleyway between two buildings. he knows he shouldn't go in there, because fear clutched his heart and snatched away his breath. but he does, like he did years ago.  
  
he dreams of two lights, floating and curling into each other. one shimmered and gleamed, the other flared and burned. small little things, that seemed to shame the sun for how they shone.  
  
he dreams of a stupid boy, a fearless boy, too kind and too lonely. watches him reach out, both hands out, palm up, towards the strange things.  
  
he dreams of their whispers. "help us," they begged. "save us," they pleaded. he hears his own answer. "i am here," he answered, smiling.  
  
when zhengting awakens, it's to the phantom burns on his hands and the white glow in his eyes.


	7. metal

****

**metal. ziyi. druid.**

Prodigy. Heir. Leader. Future. Hope.

Those were some of the common words often thrown in Ziyi's direction. Since he was a child, there's only ever been one thing drilled into him: that he was their last chance at survival.

His clan had retreated into the mountains decades ago, fleeing from the hunters that were killing his kind. They killed his grandmother, and then later on his uncle; the previous druids of metal. Now the burden of hosting a metal spirit rest on his shoulders.

So his family took to perfecting him.

To be as ruthless and careful as his uncle; to be as strong and steadfast as his grandmother. To be better, faster, and deadlier. To be able to survive a hunter's sword, and fight back with tooth and nail, fangs and claws.

Sword to sword; metal to metal.

Although...all he's ever wished for was a chance at being normal.

He was different. No denying that. His eyes glowed silver, a stark contrast to the markings of an elemental. He was different from the retainers who cherished him, the brothers whom he'd die for. But there was still that space, a distance, that they couldn't bridge over.

So when they chanced upon two other druids - golden eyes of earth and the pink ones of wood - running through the forest, and into the city beyond...

Maybe Ziyi would find that chance at being normal after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not as satisfied with this one hur hum...


	8. fire

****

**fire. linkai. druid.**

xiao gui had been mischievous again. he'd been clambering up walls and jumping off from one rooftop to another. a chase he decided to instigate. because xiao gui grew bored easily. and a bored xiao gui meant trouble, one way or another.

freaking elementals.

he'd been cornered by a bunch of hunters - one cooed at him even when xiao gui hissed at him - and when they saw him return to linkai, they knew something was up. especially since linkai didn't burn from the fires on xiao gui's skin. which is why they're here now, running for their lives from hunters ready to kill them.

freaking elemental.

...though, linkai wouldn't trade xiao gui for the world. the little elemental - a baby salamander, had been with him for as long as he could remember. when he was a toddler learning how to walk and talk. when his mother and father still coddled him as a preteen. when their house burned down because he was a monster with no control over his spirit. when he only had himself to blame for the pain and loss he faced. when they came across xingjie and his group, and were taken under their wing thanks to xiao gui's winning personality.

xiao gui sniffed at the lightning druid's outstretched hand. he chirped enthusiastically, and placed his front paws on a finger. the druid grinned widely, looked over at linkai in excitement.

freaking elemental. he always was better at making friends than he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> p.s. I updated ziyi's chapter with a new picspam! more or less the same, but i feel like it looks better now.


	9. wind

Being different will get you killed.

That's what Zhangjing has learned. Growing up, he's always heard whispers about how dangerous the druids were. With their unnatural shining eyes and their frighteningly strong powers. They say druids would cause chaos and destruction wherever they go. That they were every elementalist's worst nightmare. That's why hunters like Zhang Yixing existed - to protect their world from monsters like druids.

But if druids were monsters... then what were warlocks?

That's what Zhangjing has wondered. Working as a hunter, he's never heard anyone speak of warlocks before. With their unholy auras and telltale markings. Different from elementalists', who learn and hone their powers. Warlocks were gifted in a similar way druids were. It's why someone like You Zhangjing existed - he had a demon locked inside of him.

And no one knew the wiser. This ignorance of the world; it kept him safe. It kept him happy. He didn't have to worry about being caught or killed. Unless he suddenly announced it to the world, he could go on and live a normal life.

So, why?

Why was he about to give that all up for a druid, trembling before him, yet standing his ground? Why did he look into those shining blue eyes, saw fear and determination in them, and walked away? Why did he turn a blind eye, gave a false report to his field leader, and never looked back?

Zhangjing felt the feather-like markings on his collarbones choke him. And he knew why.


	10. nine

**_Nine_ **

Earth. Wood. Darkness. Lightning. Water. Light. Metal. Fire. Air.

The nine elements of the world.

Every elemental born was the embodiment of each type.

A salamander for fire. A golem for earth. A sylph for air.

Every elementalist had learned and honed the power of each kind.

Their marks - the physical manifestations on human skin, the details of the element they had trained in and proven to be masters of. 

A druid was special though. 

Chosen, by a spirit of each element. Spirits, the personifications of power and potential, binds with a druid of their choice. And with this bond, comes abilities that elementalists could only dream of. With this power, came a stigma and prices to pay.

A blessing. A curse. 

A gift. A burden.

A responsibility to the world.

Nine spirits for nine druids.

Nine ways to save the world. Nine ways to ruin it.

No one truly understands what it meant to have balance now.


	11. spring

**_Spring_ **

April 6th. 

A cold, spring day; with rain all throughout the night. 

That was the day when it all came to an end.

All the running and the hiding.

Of being alone. Of being afraid.

Not all of them were here though. There were supposed to be nine of them, after all.

But things happened. And the balance was broken again.

They’d have to make do with who they had.

They’d had to scrape through with who they were.

They’ll make it work.

It’s begun after all.

Change. Peace. Freedom.

Balance.


End file.
